Graffiti & Street Art, with first hand focus on Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada and places I travel to

Social Movements

More graffiti I’ve uncovered from my stack of photos of Córdoba, Argentina! I hope you guys enjoy this series, there will be about 2-3 more posts after this before I run out of material to talk about.

Veganism and animal rights seem to be a popular social current in the city. There are many instances of graffiti/street art such as these found throughout the city:

NO a la perrera [NO to the pound]. elegí veganismo! [choose veganism!]. Así se expresa el pueblo. [Such is the desire expressed by the people].

This is not strictly “graffiti”, but it relates to this post’s theme of popularizing a city’s social movements by inscribing them on its walls.

La vida no es mercancía. Life is not a commodity.

My first impression of this poster was that it had something to do with animal rights (perhaps the black cat in the picture was what had made it seem so), and the girl really does look like Emily the Strange. Is it also a protest against violence? If anyone knows what the logo in the top right hand corner is for, drop me a comment!

I might have taken this near Plaza San Martín, which clearly, explains everything.

“Marcha de la gorra” or “march of the cap” in English.

The march of the cap is part of a movement against the Offences Code of the Córdoba region organized by the “youth group for our rights” [colectivo de jóvenes por nuestros derechos]. More information about the movement can be found [in Spanish] here.

I had the pleasure to attend the first outdoor concert celebrating the 400 years of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba [2013 is the actual 400th year, but they start celebrating/partying early here in Argentina!] with performances by the students and also the Argentine version of Bob Dylan, Léon Gieco! Charly García also put in an appearance which I’m sure excited [to put it mildly] quite a lot of people. Before I start going off on a tangent and start raving/shamelessly promoting Rock Nacional, there was a particular mime enacted by the students about the University Revolution in 1918 where students demanded, among other things, secular education, and free tuition. Needless to say, Córdoba, housing the oldest university and largest student population in Argentina, and with its richest history in student activism, street art like those below are as common as cobblestone roads in the downtown area.

Ayer. Hoy! Nosotros apalstaremeos con poder popular estudiantil.

I have been through all my [sadly limited] Spanish dictionaries and also electronic resources such as Real Academia Española, but I still cannot figure out what the verb “apalstar” means. If anyone knows, again, drop me a comment! It will be very much appreciated.

8113 Volver al futuro [back to the future]. A glimpse of another “marcha de la gorra” stencil.

Law 8113 is part of an Education Act that was passed in the Córdoba province. This particular section of the act undervalues the secularism of schools and deprioritizes the social arts and humanities. This webpage dated a year ago is a little tough for my “on vacation status” Spanish to understand, but for those who are interested in delving further on this issue, it can be deciphered (with some effort) using Google Translate.